Westernflight

I'll echo this as an ORD FO on the CRJ. We have had more reserves on the 175 than CRJ every month for the past 5 or so. In some months the 175 had triple the amount of reserves. 150 CRJ lines vs. 95 175 lines. Some bases all full of suck.

Low Flyin

Flew with a brand new ex CFI FO a few weeks ago, under 1500TT already complaining how he was being worked on reserve. Seriously?! Be glad you're not doing pattern work.

It's one side or the other for industry wide regional FO's. Either you're working 90hrs+ and complaining about it, or complaining you don't make enough money. For those working a ton, enjoy the paycheck. For those not making money pick up more trips or enjoy the time off. I was an FO too, and made the best of it. I made "good money" and managed to have a good QOL too. It's all what you make of it, and if you're willing to put the time in to work the system/pick up OT trips/exchange stuff. Complaining on a forum isn't going to do anything.

N1234

When we joined this industry we all wrote a call option on our life. And the company is now exercising the right ...

QoL and work life balance is important. But having too much work is a better problem to have than having too little work.

Tippy

How common is a 2 hr callout on reserve? my desired base is about an 1:45 from my house with no traffic. Is that cutting it too close?

TogaParty

It definitely happened while I was on reserve. There's nothing like getting that call at 350am when of course you're not on call until 4, but nonetheless it still wakes you up and CS starts off:
"Hi... Can you be at the airport at 530?"
Me, still half asleep: "Uhh... No, don't I have a 2 hour call out?"
CS: "Yes you do, but can you still be there at 530?"
Me: "No, I'll be there at 6"
CS: "Ok..."
This was definitely one of the extremes in my reserve experience, but moments like these do happen. Usually they gave me more of a heads up than the minimum two hours however. You can always bid Long Call reserve where you'll have 12 hours, but that won't negate the fact that they will try and convert you to short call as many times as they can, which I think is around 6ish a month.

amcnd

Thats fine. I ski all the time on reserve. Its about 2hrs with a 20min shower stop at home to the airport. Mostly get 3+ hours. All the 2hr call outs happen at 4am..... (My observation.. I always bid the 9am-9pm call time).

Utah

Not everyone is getting loaded up with 90+ hours of flying every month. That's happening to some, but not all. I've only had more than 90 hours awarded once in the past year and this was bidding near 50% in SLC which has been seriously short on reserves for two years. September and November had me only get 76 hours in my bid award. 86 for December.

I've got 4-5 days this month I'd love to pick up some more flying but there isn't anything available in base. If pilots were getting a bunch of flying they didn't want, they sure aren't tying to get rid of it.

disillusioned

No conspiracy theory. Just CS bumping up the min reserve so that you get the automated rejection message. This month was going to have about 12 days where reserves were above minimum, so CS just bumped it up for December. Proper reserve levels seem to be the norm on the E175 (lowest 20% and highest 67%) so anyone flying that plane probably has no problem dropping trips.

SLC CA seem to be the anomaly from those that I talk to regarding PBS. My theory is because there is such a big difference between target and guaranteed line holders. Most bases have more targeted line holders for the CA vs FO, but SLC has significantly more TLH for CA. I guess it's probably because of all the instructors and other SLC based CA that only will fly a trip or two a month. When I fly with any SLC CA, they usually say they can only get mid 70's or low 80's even if they are trying to fly a bunch. The low reserves just make it so you have no chance to improve your line by trading a trip for a day or two shorter or calling in for a local. If you are based in SLC then ask any FO you fly with how much they were awarded on their line. Unless you are flying with the top 10%, my guess is that they got over 85 hours awarded. Unless they are so junior that they are working all the crappy stuff that only gives them 13 days off for the month and low 80's.

This is why you will never see transparency with PBS. Everyone would flip out when they could see the discrepancy down the seniority list. Sad thing is that we could probably make a majority happy (not 100% because we are pilots) but globalization doesn't work with low staffing numbers. If you allowed PBS to honor seniority and put trips in Open Time for aggressive reserve pickup or people who wanted to work more, it would be a huge QOL win for a majority of our group.

WesternSkies

Hub and outstation can be very different different. Small out stations *may* have fewer callouts but a high % will be 4:00 am wake-ups or mx flights that do require 2 hour call outs.

Crazy Canuck

You should have told them they disturbed your rest and were resetting it for 8 hours.